Updated 06/28/21: Xbox Cloud Gaming through the browser is now available to all Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. This article has been updated throughout with the latest information from Microsoft.
Depending on the device you have, there are a couple of ways you can go about accessing Xcloud. Those with iOS devices will need to access their Xcloud games via a browser, so boot up Chrome. Interestingly, the video details xCloud running on a Microsoft Surface X Pro, which happens to be powered by an Arm processor, not a conventional x86 processor. When it comes to PC gaming, the. Microsoft xCloud Rolled Out to iOS and macOS. Microsoft’s xCloud is a cloud streaming element of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Users do not need a console to play the more than 100 games which are.
Microsoft suggests that you should have a connection of at least 5Ghz Wi-Fi or a mobile data connection of 10Mbps down. A quick speedtest told me I had 233 down and 12 up, well within the range for a good time on my iPhone 11 and my 11-inch iPad Pro (2nd Gen). When talking about cloud gaming, Xbox Cloud Gaming contemporaries must be mentioned.
Last year, we wrote about how Apple’s restrictive App Store rules would cause millions of gamers to miss out on Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service (née xCloud). Microsoft later updated the Xbox app to stream games over your local network from your own Xbox, but that’s not the same thing as a cloud gaming service where you don’t need to download or install games at all.
After months of hand-wringing and probably back-room negotiations, Microsoft finally announced that it would build a web-based solution for devices on which it can’t provide an app, like iPhone and iPad. After a short invite-only beta period, Microsoft has announced that all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can now enjoy Xbox Cloud Gaming on Mac, iPhone, or iPad. To play, simply visit xbox.com/play using Edge, Chrome, or Safari browsers on your Apple device.
Most games are made to be played with a controller, but Apple’s devices support modern Xbox controllers just fine. Just sync it to your Mac as you would any Bluetooth device, or plug in via USB. On iPhone or iPad, we have a guide to pairing your Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S controller.
In addition to the broad availability of Xbox Cloud Gaming (formerly code-named xCloud) to all subscribers, Microsoft has upgraded the servers that run the games in the cloud to new hardware based on the Xbox Series X. This means faster performance, much quicker loading times, and better visual quality. Games will stream at 1080p and 60fps, but the company says that “Going forward we’ll continue to innovate and add more features to enhance your cloud gaming experience.”
On Xbox, all saved games are always synced to the cloud, as is other user data like friends lists and achievements. So everything you do on a console will be there waiting for you in the cloud, and vice-versa.
The Xbox Cloud Gaming expansion comes along with an expansion of Xbox-ready game accessories for iPhones. The popular Razer Kishi controller, originally only for Android phones, now has an MFi-certified version for iPhones. The new Backbone One controller for iPhone features a dedicated button to launch the Xbox Cloud Gaming web app. For a limited time, Microsoft is offering three-month free trial to new Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members with the purchase of either controller.
Microsoft released a beta of their web-based xCloud game streaming service recently. It would seem that this version of the service will work with any web browser that supports WebRTC, so let’s see how that works.
I decided to plug an Xbox controller into the USB port of my Pinebook Pro running Manjaro Linux and the open-source Chromium web browser.
If you have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, you can try the new beta web-based streaming service at Xbox.com/Play as well. The system requirements say that you need a Windows 10 PC or an Apple iOS 14+ device, but… guess what… Linux works, too.
Macbook Air
Of course, you’ll also want a high-speed 10Mbps+ internet connection for the streaming, and an Xbox controller plugged in via USB or paired via Bluetooth. Microsoft mainly built this version because Apple won’t let them make a game streaming app for the Apple App Store, so the web-based method is a workaround for that. The bonus is that this web-based version happens to work with a lot of other platforms too.
Xcloud Macbook Pro
This Pinebook Pro has extremely low specs by the way. It’s a six-core, 1.4GHz, Pine64 ARM processor with only 4GB of RAM and 64GB eMMC storage. If that was running Windows 10, everything would be laggy!
See below for how Xbox Game Streaming actually works on this very inexpensive Linux laptop running Manjaro XFCE Linux.
Project Xcloud Macbook Pro
As you’ll see, the simple games work quite well, while more action-oriented games are probably going to need a bit more processing power on the client-side. Outriders worked ok, but there was certainly some latency, and Halo 5 Guardians turned out to be practically unplayable.